Circular-knitting machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. H. STEWART CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 397,444. 4-! ented Feb. 5, 1889..

WITNESSES:

QWL (79%;;

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

w. H. STEWART.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Patented Feb. 5, 1889.

grl llill 7 Wrmessz:

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

HALTER ll. CTElVAR'l, OF FRANKLIN, NEV .llAhllSlIlRE.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,42 1, dated February 5, 1889.

Application filed November 14, 1887. $erial No. 255,113. (No model.)

is a specification. l

My invention relates to circular-lnlitting machines adapted for knitting complete seamless stockings, the heels and toes being of the roundor bulge character and formed by first throwing out of .action substantially on ehalf of the needles employed in knitting the tubular leg and foot portions of the stock ing, permitting such retired needles to retain the stitches last formed thereon, and then by reciprocating the cam-plate or cylinder and gradually retiring needles at the ends of such reciprocating movements and permittin g the retired needles to hold their stitches knitting a triangular or quarterspherical web, and by continuing the reciprocating movements of the needle-operating means and gradually bringing .into operation retired needles knitting another quarterspherical web, the two webs so formed comprising a round heel or too.

It is the object of my invention to provide improved means whereby the needles employed in knitting heels and toes, as aforesaid, may be automatically retired and brought into action in proper order.

My improvemei'lts have been wrought on that class of circular machines in which the needles are arranged and operated horizontally with the hooks toward the axis of the rotary cam-plate and the tails of the needles extending out-ward radially from said axis, in contradistinction to circular machines employin g vertically-arranged needles.

My invention will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, and subsequently set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

Of the drawings, Figure 1. represents a top plan view of a machine embodying myinvention, the yarn and yarn-guides being for the sake of clearness omitted. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 represents a sectional detail view through the camplate and its attached needle-operating cams and the needlebed and its equipments, showlarly referred to. last-formed l ing what 1 term the long needles and the means for controlling the position of the same to render them operative or inoperative. Fig. t represents a sectional detail view similar to Fig. 3, but through a portion of the machine at which the short needles are located. Fig. 5 represents a side view, a part being broken out, of one of the grooved slides for engaging the tails of the long needles and drawing the latter down so that they cannot be acted upon by the needle-operating cams, and shows a portion also of the chain attached to said slide. Fig. 6 is a detail view ill ustrating th e manner of operating the chain connected with the slide mentioned in the description of Fig. 5. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the pawl connected. with the block on the end of the chain, and hereinafter more particu- Fig. 7 is an under side view of a portion of the canrplate and needleoperatin cams secured thereto.

Similar letters and figures of reference indicate similar parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, Z designates the base of the frame; V, the bed of the machine; X, pillars supporting the bed from the base; R, the needle-bed, and A the rotary cam-plate. The needles 0. I) are arranged horizontally in grooves of the needle-bed R, which grooves are formed on lines extending radially from the axis of the can'i-plate A. The needles lettered a are longer than those designated by b, and the former are provided with tails 0, extending outwardly from their heels d, all of the needles being arranged with their hooks toward the center of the machine or axis of the cam-plate.

The grooves in which the long needles a are placed are deeper at their rear or outer ends than at their forward or inner ends, the depth of such grooves gradually increasing from front to rear, as shown in Fig. 3,for a purpose to be presently explained. The grooves in which the needles 1) operate are of uniform depth.

The camplate A is provided at a proper point on its under side with needle-operating cams 15 1.6 Q 17, the space a between the cams Q 17 forming a path for the passage of the both sets of needles being on the same line concentric with the axis of the cam-plate A, while the distance between the heels of. the long needles a and short needles I) correspomls to the distance between the two cam-paths e and f. The needles are projected and retracted by the cams 1516 Q 17 in a manner which will be readily understood by those skilled in the art without further description herein.

11 designate sinkers arranged to operate in slots or grooves formed in a ring, 2l,attached to the inner edge of the bed-plate R, one such sinker being placed between each two needles and moved up and down by a cam, 1!),seeured to a ring, 20, turning with the cam-plate A. Cam 19 operates in a notch, 80, formed in the rear edge of the siukers, and is so constructed and timed in its movements as to raise the sinkers as the needles are retracted to form a stitch, allowing the yarn or loop to be drawn under the hook g of the sinker, and when said sinker is depressed the hook g operates to hold back the loop onv the needle as the latter is projected to take yarn for a new stitch.

The cam-plate A has gear-teeth lrformed on its outer edge, which teeth mesh with the teeth of a small bevel gear-wheel, ll, the latter being made fast to an arbor, (3, adapted to turn in bearings formed in a bracket, 5, attached to the bed of the machine. Turning loosely on arbor C are pulleys l) E, and between the pulleys D E, secured to arbor O by a spline and groove, (not shown,) is a clutchcollar, F, the manner of securing said clutchcollar to said shaft being such as to permit the former to be turned with the latter and yet be moved longitudinally thereon. Both ends of the clutch-collar F may have clutchteeth formed thereon and adapted to engage similar teeth formed on the pulleys l) E, as is'common in the construction of clutches; or the ends of the collar may be made tapering in form, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, which tapering ends may be made to lit into corresponding recesses in the adjacent; sides of the pulleys l) E. Pulleys D and E are in the operation of the machine driven in opposite directions, as will presently be explained, and clutch-collar F is so constructed that when its tapering end adjacent to pulleyD is forced in the recess in the side of said pulley the friction between the two parts will carry said clutch-collar and arbor around in one direction, an d when said cl utch-collar is moved into contact with pulley E the arbor will be rotated in the opposite.direction.

The description of the machine thus far given is believed to be sufficiently full toenable knitting artisans to understand that it can readily be equipped with yarn-guides of any suitable or common construction and be operated to produce a tubular knit web-such as is employed in the leg and foot portions of stockings-the cam-plate A being rotated for that purpose. Vhen, however, the heel or toe portion of a stocking is to be formed and said heel or too portion is to be given a round or hemispherical shape, the first step in the operation is to render a portion of the needles used in knitting the tubular web inactive or inoperative, peru'litting them to retain the stitches or loops last formed thereon. Asmy machine is organized the short needles I) are rendered inoperative for the purpose mentioned, and this is accomplished by raising the cam Q, so that it will not act upon the heels of needles I) to project the same.

(lam Q is secured to a block, N, pivoted at its forward end on a pin, P, to the cam-plate A, or to a block, 0, set into the cam-plate. A recess is formed in the cam-plate above cam Q and block N, so as to permit said block and cam to be swung upward and carry the cam out of engagement with the heels of the short needles, a pin, M, extending up through a slot in cam plate A, as seen in Fig. 3, permitting this to be done, and to render inoperative the short needles Z). The cam Q may be held in raised position by the frictional engagement of its sides or edges with the sides of the recess into which it is raised, or by other suitable means, this feature of the construction tormin g no part of my claimed improvement.

\Vith the needles I) rendered inactive, the cam-plate A may be rcciprocated to knit heel and toe work, and this reciprocation of said cam-plate is accomplished by placing a pin, L, in a hole in the cam-plate, as shown in Fig. 1, said pin extending above the upper surface of said cam-plate just far enough to strike the lever K, secured to an arbor, I, having a bearing in a suitable sleeve, J, seen-red to the bracket 5, to which arbor I is also secured one end of a lever, G, the other end of which' is provided with a pin, 1', extending down into a groove, II, formed in the clutchcollar F. 'With this construction it will be seen that as the cam-plate is rotated in one direction and pin ll isbrought in contactwith and moves lever K said lever will be so operated as to cause its connected parts to move clutch-collar F out of contact with one of the pulleys l) or E and into engagement with the other, and so cause cam-plate A to be rotated in the opposite direct-ion until pin L again comes in contact with lever K, when the former movement of the cam-plate will be effected, and so on as long as pin L is in position in the cam-plate.

The short needles I) may be supposed to be arranged in the grooy'esin the needle-bed betweer. the points 22 22, Fig. 1., the remainder of the needles being long needles a. In a groove or way, 23, in the rear of the short needles are arranged two segmental slides, 'l

T, arranged side by side and adapted to be moved in opposite directions in way 23 around the cam-plate, said way 23 beingformed between the rear edge of the needle-bed and a rim or rib, 32, on the bed-plate V, as is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. To the end of each slide in the direction in which it is to be moved from the points 22 is secured one end of a chain, S, also adapted to move in the bottom of the way 23 and form a rest for the tails c of the long needles a, so that the heels of said needles will be engaged and operated by the cams 15 1G. The form of slide T and chain S is represented in Fig. 5, a portion of the slide being ;)ic'tu red as broken out. Said chains :5 extend around in way 23 to and around rollers 6 0 (shown in full and dotted lines in Fig. 1) and into a groove or way formed in brackets 7 7, attached at their inner ends to the bed of the machine. At their said free ends the chains S S are each provided with a block, 9, as shown in detail in Fig. 6, to which block is pivoted the doublearmed pawl 0, the arms of which pawl are adapted, one at a time, to be engaged by the teeth of a rack-bar, 10, arranged to be reciprocated in brackets 7 above chain b, block 8, and its attached pawl 0, one such rack-bar being provided for each bracket 7. \Vith this construction and arrangement of parts it will be seen that slides T, chains S, and blocks 8 may be moved in one direction or the other in ways 23 or brackets '7 by reciprocating the rack-bars 10, the direction in which each of said chains and its adjuncts are moved being dependent upon which arm of pawl 0 in engagement with the teeth of its co-operative rack-bar.

A spring, 2', Fig. (i, is adapted to act against one or the other of .the inclined surfaces formed on the under side of the pawl fl, and serves to hold either arm, as may be desired, of said pawl in posit-ion to engage the teeth of rack-bar 10. The opposite ends, 'l of the pawl-arms are offset each from the other, as shown in Fig. U, so as that. when the chain is, for example, moved outward in the bracket the end then in engagementwith theteeth of the rack-bar, may strike. a lug or dog, t", on one side of the outer end of the bracket, and so disengage said end ot' the pawl from the teeth of the rack-bar, at the same time throwing the opposite end, t, of the pawl into engagement with said teeth, and when the chain is moved in a lug similar to lug t on the opposite side of the inner end of the bracket will strike the end t of the pawl and return it to its first-mentioned position.

As the slides T are moved from the points :22 in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 1, the tails c of the needles a will enter the slots 25 in said slides and be drawn down, so as to carry the heels of said needles below and out of engagement with them-)edle-operating cams l5 l6 and so throw said needles out of action, and when said slides are moved in a direction opposite to the arrows in Fig.1 the tails of said long needles will ride up out of said groove 25 onto chain S and so bebronghtinto operative position.

The advantages arising from the use of the chain in connection with the slides are that the chain which supports certain of the needies in their normal position may in the narrowing and widening operation be moved entirely out of the way of the needles and needle-supports, so that the needle-withdrawing features of the slides may be brought very near together to form the point of the heel, and so that more than halt the needles of the circle may be employed, if desired, in knitting the heel. This cannot be done in machines where a portion 01: the slide is employed to hold certai n of the needles in their normal position and. another portion employed to raise certain needles into operative position, since if an attempt should be made to throw more than halt the needles out of operation the partof one slide constri'icted to hold the needles in operative position would come .in contact with and raise the needles first lowered by the other slide after more than one-quarter of the number of needles have been. lowered by each slide.

The teeth in the rack-bars 10 are :ltormed at such. distance apart that by reciprocatin said bars the distance between two teeth will be just sufficient to cause the slide T operated thereby to throw out or bring into action a needle, (1, and by this means control the long needles to perform the operation of widening and nal rowing to knit heel and toe work by a process so well understood by knitting artisans as to not require elaboration herein.

The reciprocation 0t rack-bars 10 in brackets 7 is effected by means of a lever, -30, secured at 'lllS center on a stud, i1 2, having a bearing in a bar secured to ln'ackets 7, said lever 30 being pivotally connected at its ends with the rack-bars 10. The upperend ot' stud 12 is con necl ed to the rear or outer end of a two-armed lever, 13, the arms of which lever extend out over the cam-plate A of the machine and are adapted to be struck andmoved from side to side in the reciprocating movements 01. said cam-plane by a pin, l-t, placed in a hole in said cam-plate, said pin ll being placed near enough to the axis of the camplate to pass the end of lever K without affecting the position of said lever, and twoarmed lever 13 being arranged at a plane sufficiently high to permit pin L to pass thereunder without moving the lastanentioned lever.

In the movement of lever 3 from side to side, indicated by the dotted lines in, Fig. 1, by the reciprocating movements of the cam-plate and the action on said lever 13 by pin it rack-bars 10 will be reciprocated the distance between any two teeth of said rack bar, and so raise a needle into or withdraw one from action, the direction in which the chains S and their attached slides T are moved depending upon the adj ustment ot' pawl. !lthat is, as to which arm of said pawl made to engage with the teeth of the rackbar, as will be understood without 'l'in'ther explanation.

A bracket, 1, is attached to the bed of the machine and supports suitable bearings for the main arbor 26, having a driving-pulley, l, secured upon its outer end and carrying pulleys 2 A crossed belt, 37, connects pulley IIO 3 with pulley E, and straight belt 38 connects pulley 2 with pulley D, this arrangement serving to effect the rotation of pulleys D and E in opposite directit'ms.

In knitting a stocking the machine will be set to effect the knitting of a tubular web by the rotation of the cam-plate A and be operated until a sullieieut length of such web has been produced, when the pins L 1-1 will be placed in the cam-plate and paw] 9 adjusted so as to effect the movement of chains S outward in brackets 7 7, when the can t-plate will be given a reciprocating motion, and the slides T T will be drawn arouml step by step toward the rollers G o, drawing the long needles down oueby oneout of position to be operated by the cams .15 and Hi until the web being knit is narrowed to the desired extent, when the pawls U will be so adjusted as to move the chains 5% and slides '1 back to their former position, gradually bringing into op eration the needles thrown out of action and completing the formation of a hemispherical or bulge piece suitable for a heel. The pins Ii lat are then removed from the cam plate, when circular knitting will be performed again to form a tulmlarweb for the foot portion of the stocking, and the machine will be operated substantially as has been described with reference to the formation of the heel for knitting the toe portion.

It is obvious that changes may be made in the form and arrangement of parts const ituting my invention without departing from the nature or spirit of the improvement.

hat I claim is l. A rotary can't-plate, a needle-bed, two set s of needles, (1 b, the former set provided with extensions or tails, a movable chain support ed by the bed and adapted to form a support for the tails of said needles, means for moving the chain, a grooved or slotted slide attached to the said chain to engage the tails of said 11 eedles to lower or depress the. san'le, and a bracket provided with a support or way upon which said chain may be moved and by which it may be guided from the bed, combined and arranged substantially as herei nbeforc set forth.

2. The combii'lation, with the rotary camplate, the grooved needle-bed, and two sets of needles, a Z), the former needles provided with tails c, of chains S and attached grooved slides T, supported and movable in. ways in the bed, said slides being adapted to engage the tails of said needles a to raise and lower the same in their grooves in the bed, ways or brackets 7, in which said chains are adapted to move, rack-bars movable in and guided by said brackets, a two-armed pawl on each of said chains adapted to be engaged by said rack-bars, and means for reciprocating said rack-bars, as set forth.

3. The combination, with the needle-bed, the needles a 1), slides T, and attached chains S, bearing the two-armed pawls 9, of brackets 7, rack-bars 10, lever 30, pivoted at its ends to said rack-bars, two-armed lever 13, connected with the fulcrum of said lever 30, and the rotary cam-plate provided with the pin 14, as set forth.

4. The combination, with the needle-bed, needles, and rotary cam-plate, of a rotary arbor, (l, a gear connecting said arbor with said cam-plate, pulleys. D E, loose on said arbor, clutch-collar F, splined on said arbor to be moved longittulinally thereon, but to rotate therewith, levers G K and their fulcrum-pin I, and pin L, removably secured to the camplate, as set forth.

5. The combination, with the needles a, provided with the tails c, of the rotary cam-plate, the needle-bed provided with grooves in which said needles operate, said grooves being deeper at their outer or rear than their inner or forward ends, chain S, on which the tails of said needles are adapted to rest, slide T, provided with a groove, 25, adapted to engage the tails of said needles, said slide being attached to said chain, a bracket provided with a support or way upon which said chain may be moved and by which it maybe guided from the bed, and means for movin said chain, as set forth.

6. The combination with the rotary camplate, needle-bed, needles, slide T, and chain b, of the roller 6 on the needle-bed, block 8, and two-armed pawls 9, attached to the chain, bracket '7, reciprocating rack -bar 10, and means for reciprocating said rack-bar, as set forth.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this lqtth day of October, A. I). 1887.

\VALTER IT. STEIVART.

\Vitnesses:

.TAs. E. BARNARD, GEo. M1. CARR. 

